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June 23rd 2006

Published: July 7th 2006

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TRAC

POMPEII

Teatro Grande

AFTER a really exhausting and hot night in Rome drove to the fascinating Pompeii! It was buried beneath ash and dust after the eruption on nearyby Mt Vesuvius. It was buried by volcanic ash for 100s of years before it was excavated and found undestroyed. However 2 hours of the burning sun and standing on thermal sand was enough for me. On the way to Sorrento I stopped for a lemon ice drink on the side of a road from a local whose stand was literally was hugging the edge of the cliff. SO light & refreshing!

Headed straight for the pool at the camp site in Sorrento where I stayed the weekend. The town of Sorrento is lovely with beautiful views. Here I tasted some Limoncello, a lemon liqueur produced in this region. Turns out, it is actually an after dinner drink to help digest your meal. After a massive meal had some more.

JUNE 24- Isle of Capri!
The next day I caught a ferry to the Isle of Capri! In case you were to forget that this has been the holiday spot for the rich and famous, I eyed a massive yacht with its own helicopter!

THE FORUM

Before hitting town, we experienced the famous grottos. Never heard of a grotto before getting here, but the Grotta Azzura (Blue Grotto) is a cave on the coast of Capri that you must tour by a row boat only fit for 4. We had to lie down while our Marinaio (sailor) pulls the boat into the grotto with a chain attached to the cave entrance. Seemed dodgy at first but so worthwhile inside.

The sea is an awesome blue and seems to be lit from underwater creating a glowing effect. Our marinero definitely worked for his tip with his singing and romancing. The only thing better would have been Sebastian serenading with his sea friends! Afterwards, I treated myself to some sunnies from Capri town. You have to take a funicular and once you arrive you get breathtaking scenery. It can't get better than local gelato and designer sotres! Anacapri is a less glam but offered yet more spectular views of the bay of Naples. On the bus there I definitely doubted the weight of the bus as I looked out and couldn't even see the road but the sea from a cliff SO high I almost threw up

LEMON MAN

I was scared.

JUNE 25- Amalfi Coast
The best day!! Followed the coastal road along the Amalfi to Positano and Amalfi. Got here early in the morning in order to avoid the many tourists. Stopped for such awesome fruit along the way. The lemons here are not the lemons we're used to at home. They're massive and so flavourful. We rented a beach umbrella and sun baked for 3 solid hours enjoying the heat and sea breeze. Seriuosly felt like a scene from the Talented Mr Ripley minus Jude Law but SO awesome nonetheless. And little did I realize I was about to see the next best thing ...! in Ravello.

Another fascinating town perched in the hills with again, beautiful views of the gulf and DAVID ROCCO!!! If you don't know who that is go to his website! He's just as cute and the whole 10 minutes totally sealed my Italian weekend as the best weekend ever. It was his show, after all, that gave me the itch to go to the South of Italy. I'm still glowing from the experience (it's not a tan that I came back from ITaly with but the David Rocco after

SORRENTO

Small city famous for the production of Limoncello

effect!!). He was filming and as I walked out of a store bumped right into him. He was quite friendly.

Later on in the day as the number of vehicles rose, driving back felt like we were playing a dangerous game of chicken! Drove around the back of Mt Vesuvius in order to get back to Rome but was very exhausted so didn't see much. I had another fun night at Sunset Hill, a pub built for the World Cup fit with convenient bells and whistles.

JUNE 26- ROME
I spent the morning revisiting my Roman Holiday -- Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, Pantheon, etc. Even though the weather was 42 degrees, I walked as much as I could knowing that that same night I wouldn't be there any more. But I must say it felt pretty cool to fly back to London with a sense of this now being my home (despite the cold welcome back).

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